My main publisher is not doing fiction anymore and thus ends our association, since fiction is what I write. Two proposals are out with other publishers, but we’ll see what happens with them. With 14 books written, I’m sure I can retire and feel good about the legacy I’ve left my children. However, the Lord had other plans and now I am writing songs! This is a challenge, since I don’t read or write music! I record the melody by quarter notes in a blank music notebook and above them I put a few chords (by letter only) that help clarify the melody. Then, I FaceTime with a very talented young man, John Gambrell, who after graduating from Point Loma Nazarene University as a composition major, now resides in Boston. He and his girlfriend, Jean, who plays the cello, have formed J2 and they are making a CD. They play beautifully together, so look them up. In any case, John takes my “chicken scratches” and listens to me play the song in my crude manner on FaceTime, and turns it into sheet music. He is amazing and so talented. The songs are all up on SMP Press (Sheet Music Plus). Recently I sold my first song, “Abba, My Father” and I am over the moon!
The melodies are beautiful, but I cannot take credit, the Lord runs the melodies through my head, and I just put them down as best I can. We have an Easter Cantata on the site, called “Glorious” and the 13 songs are amazing. Not because I wrote them, but because they came from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If your church is looking for something for Easter, and you do productions, I hope you will look up “Glorious” (Taylor-Prentice Productions). The main characters are the disciple Andrew and his wife, Rebecca.
As someone once said, “Writers don’t write because they want to, they write because they have to. The creative muse refuses to remain silent.”
Photo from freepik
